1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image printer, and more particularly to an image printer including a projection-exposure section for projecting an image born on a film onto a photosensitive material, an image exposure section for exposing the photosensitive material based on image information comprised of a plurality of image areas each including color data relating to a plurality of colors, and transport means for transporting the photosensitive material through the projection-exposure section and the image-exposure section.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such image printer as described above may be used for a variety of purposes. For instance, the printer allows the projection-exposure section and the image-exposure section to be utilized independently of each other. The printer is also usable for a multiple exposure operation. In this case, the projection-exposure section effects an exposure of the film image onto a certain portion of the photosensitive material and also the image-projection section effects a further overlapping exposure of another image onto the same portion of the photosensitive material while the photosensitive material is being transported by the transport means through the projection-exposure section and the image-exposure section.
Conventionally, the image-exposure section of the above-described image printer effects an exposure of a video image displayed on a CRT monitor onto the photosensitive material, the video image being comprised of a plurality of image areas each including color data relating to a plurality of colors.
According to the above conventional art, however, the image-exposure section including the CRT monitor tends to be large and complicated, such that it has been difficult to form the entire printer apparatus simple and compact. Thus, there remains room for improvement in this respect.
The present invention attends to the above-described state of the art. And, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved image printer which is compact and simple and which is superior in processing capacity through minimization of undesirable reduction in the speed of the image exposure operation.